This Orient Isle
Elizabethan England and the Islamic World
Jerry Brotton
- In
- 1570,
- when
- it
- became
- clear
- she
- would
- never
- be
- gathered
- into
- the
- Catholic
- fold,
- Elizabeth
- I
- was
- excommunicated
- by
- the
- Pope.
- On
- the
- principle
- that
- 'my
- enemy's
- enemy
- is
- my
- friend',
- this
- marked
- the
- beginning
- of
- an
- extraordinary
- English
- alignment
- with
- the
- Muslim
- powers
- who
- were
- fighting
- Catholic
- Spain
- in
- the
- Mediterranean,
- and
- of
- cultural,
- economic
- and
- political
- exchanges
- with
- the
- Islamic
- world
- of
- a
- depth
- not
- experienced
- again
- until
- the
- modern
- age.
- England
- signed
- treaties
- with
- the
- Ottoman
- Porte,
- received
- ambassadors
- from
- the
- kings
- of
- Morocco
- and
- shipped
- munitions
- to
- Marrakesh.
- By
- the
- late
- 1580s
- hundreds,
- perhaps
- thousands,
- of
- Elizabethan
- merchants,
- diplomats,
- sailors,
- artisans
- and
- privateers
- were
- plying
- their
- trade
- from
- Morocco
- to
- Persia.They
- included
- the
- resourceful
- mercer
- Anthony
- Jenkinson
- who
- met
- both
- Süleyman
- the
- Magnificent
- and
- the
- Persian
- Shah
- Tahmasp
- in
- the
- 1560s,
- William
- Harborne,
- the
- Norfolk
- merchant
- who
- became
- the
- first
- English
- ambassador
- to
- the
- Ottoman
- court
- in
- 1582
- and
- the
- adventurer
- Sir
- Anthony
- Sherley,
- who
- spent
- much
- of
- 1600
- at
- the
- court
- of
- Shah
- Abbas
- the
- Great.
- The
- previous
- year,
- remarkably,
- Elizabeth
- sent
- the
- Lancastrian
- blacksmith
- Thomas
- Dallam
- to
- the
- Ottoman
- capital
- to
- play
- his
- clockwork
- organ
- in
- front
- of
- Sultan
- Mehmed.
- The
- awareness
- of
- Islam
- which
- these
- Englishmen
- brought
- home
- found
- its
- way
- into
- many
- of
- the
- great
- cultural
- productions
- of
- the
- day,
- including
- most
- famously
- Marlowe's
- Tamburlaine,
- and
- Shakespeare's
- Titus
- Andronicus
- and
- The
- Merchant
- of
- Venice.
- The
- year
- after
- Dallam's
- expedition
- the
- Moroccan
- ambassador,
- Abd
- al-Wahid
- bin
- Mohammed
- al-Annuri,
- spent
- six
- months
- in
- London
- with
- his
- entourage.
- Shakespeare
- probably
- began
- to
- write
- Othello
- six
- months
- later.This
- Orient
- Isle
- shows
- that
- England's
- relations
- with
- the
- Muslim
- world
- were
- far
- more
- extensive,
- and
- often
- more
- amicable,
- than
- we
- have
- appreciated,
- and
- that
- their
- influence
- was
- felt
- across
- the
- political,
- commercial
- and
- domestic
- landscape
- of
- Elizabethan
- England.
- It
- is
- a
- startlingly
- unfamiliar
- picture
- of
- part
- of
- our
- national
- and
- international history.
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